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I looked into Raduraksti this morning, and what did I see…. a new document section for house registers!

These are the “house books” that I have mentioned a number of times before. They provide information about everyone living in a given building at a given time period. They may also offer information such as birthdate, birthplace, […]

Tracking down your ancestors’ activities in interwar Latvia can be tricky. The official records are not online. Any birth, marriage or death record needs to be obtained from a registry office, either by going in person (cheapest), ordering through an embassy (expensive, or direct from the registry office if you’re lucky) or by asking someone […]

The First World War was a time of chaos across Europe. And yet, there was order as well, at least in Latvian territory and amongst Latvians residing elsewhere. The documentation surrounding Latvian refugees of the First World War is extremely comprehensive, though not easily accessible. But hopefully that will change over time.

But wait, what about Q? Well, the Latvian alphabet doesn’t have a Q, so R is the next letter of the Family History Through the Alphabet challenge! This is only the first letter I’m skipping, and being as I’ve done a lot of extra ones for the extra letters in the Latvian alphabet, I think […]

The important word of the day is “parish” – and in Latvian, it has a name with a P too – “pagasts”. Now, this refers to civil parishes, rather than religious ones. A religious parish or congregation in Latvian would be called a “draudze”.